A staple food in the hot, dry tropics, sorghum is the fifth most
commonly grown cereal in the world. It has a very long history of
being utilised by humans, dating back to at least 1,000 BC. It is
widely cultivated in tropical and warm temperate zones for its
edible seed, as well as for its panicles (which are used as brooms)
and the syrup obtained from its
sap.

Identification guide

General

Sorghum is a vigorous, erect, annual grass with one to many
tillers. A very variable plant, it can grow up to 5 metres
tall.

Bringing a healthy spin to the much-loved apple crumble, this
recipe uses jowar to create a delightful treat. Load it up with
nuts for that extra crunch.

How to Make Jowar Apple Crumble:

Pre-heat the oven at 100 degree C. Grease a 6-inch baking tray
with a little oil and keep it aside.Peal and core the apple. Cut it
into thin and even slices, add melted butter and sugar, and coat
well. Arrange the slices neatly at the base of the baking tray.
Keep aside. In a mixing bowl, sift jowar flour and oats. Add the
cold butter cubes and rub with your fingertips until the mixture
resembles bread crumbs. Add the chopped walnuts, cinnamon
powder and sugar. Mix well. Sprinkle it over the apple base and
fill up the baking tin. Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes at 150
degree C, or until the crumble layer is crisp and you can see the
juice from the apple slices bubbling at the sides.Serve warm with a
scoop of fresh cream or ice cream.

Jowar Banana Cake with Salted Caramel
Sauce

A wholesome jowar cake made with banana, and slathered with
decadent salted caramel sauce for a sinful treat. You could also
use chocolate sauce and throw in some nuts if you like.

How to Make Jowar Banana Cake with Salted Caramel Sauce

Pre-heat the oven at 100 degree C. Grease a 6-inch baking tray
with a little oil and line with a butter paper. Keep aside. Melt
butter in a double boiler and let it cool. Peel and mash the banana
in a mixing bowl. Add melted butter to it and whisk well. Add the
sugar, little at a time, and continue whisking. In a separate
mixing bowl, whisk the eggs until light and fluffy. Add to the
banana mixture and mix well. Sift together the jowar flour, wheat
flour, cinnamon powder, baking powder and salt in a bowl. Add it,
one teaspoon at a time, to the banana and egg mixture. Fold
carefully to acquire an even mixture without any lumps. Add the
milk to make a smooth batter. It should not be too thick or too
runny. Bake in the oven at 150 degree C for 20-25 minutes or until
a skewer inserted at the centre comes out clean. Remove from the
oven and let it cool For the Salted Caramel Sauce In a mixing bowl,
whip the cream and butter until light and keep it aside. Place the
sugar in a large pan over low heat and allow it to melt. You can
shake the pan slightly from time to time to evenly melt the sugar.
After 4-5 minutes, the sugar will start acquiring a brown colour.
Keep a strict watch because it happens rather rapidly. Once it
turns an amber brown colour, remove from the flame and carefully
add in the cream and butter mixture. Stir well so that the
ingredients combine together and return to the flame. Stirring
continuously, let the mixture thicken to a sauce-like consistency.
Add in the salt and stir again to mix well. Remove from the flame
and let it cool. To Serve Slice the banana cake and serve warm
topped with salted caramel sauce.

Seed - raw or cooked. It is used as a whole grain in similar
ways to rice, it can be popped much like popcorn, or can be ground
into a flour and made into bread etc. The ground seed yields a
particularly white flour. Sorghum is a staple food in some regions,
where it is often fermented (lactic acid fermentation) before being
eaten. The sprouted seed can be eaten raw, and is sometimes added
to salads. The seed is germinated, then dried and ground into a
powder to form malt, which is used as a substratum for fermentation
in local beer production.

Stems - cooked. Some caution is advised here, there are some
reports that the leaves can contain the poison cyanide.

The stems of sweet sorghum types are chewed like sugar cane and,
mainly in the United States, a sweet syrup is pressed from
them.

Sap - raw or cooked. Very sweet, it is made into a syrup

Nutritional and medicinal information

Sorghum is of a lower feed quality than corn (maize). It is high
in carbohydrates, with 10 percent protein and 3.4 percent fat, and
contains calcium and small amounts of iron, vitamin B1, and niacin.
For human consumption, the gluten-free grain is usually ground into
a meal that is made into porridge, flatbreads, and cakes. The
characteristic strong flavor can be reduced by processing. The
grain is also used in making edible oil, starch, dextrose (a
sugar), paste, and alcoholic beverages. The stalks are used as
fodder and building materials. Sweet sorghums, or sorgos, are grown
mainly in the United States and southern Africa for forage and for
syrup manufacture and are sometimes used in the production of ethyl
alcohol for biofuel.

The decoction of the seed is demulcent and diuretic. It is used
in the treatment of kidney and urinary complaints.

The inflorescence is astringent and haemostatic. The leaves and
panicles are included in plant mixtures for decoctions used in the
treatment of anaemia.

Decoctions of the twigs, combined with lemon, is used as a
treatment against jaundice.

The red pigment is said to have antimicrobial and antifungal
properties. It is used as a treatment for anaemia.

Harvesting and preserving

Sorghum is a plant of the tropics and subtropics, where it is
found main in semi-arid areas and at elevations up to 2,500 meters.
It grows best in areas where annual daytime temperatures are within
the range 22 - 35°c, but can tolerate 8 - 40°c.It prefers a mean
annual rainfall in the range 400 - 600mm, but tolerates 300 -
700mm.

A fairly easily grown plant, requiring a warm, sheltered and
sunny position, preferring a slightly to moderately acid soil,
though some cultivars have succeeded with a pH as high as 8. Plants
are adapted to a wide range of soils varying from light loams to
heavy clays, they thrive best on light, easily worked soils of high
fertility, with moderate to high availability of water. Moderately
well-drained soils are suitable for sorghums. Prefers a pH in the
range 5.5 - 7.5, tolerating 5 - 8. Small amounts of alkali in sand
reduces performance considerably. Plants are moderately tolerant of
saline soils. Established plants are very drought resistant, they
succeed in arid soils. A nitrogen rich soil causes the plants to
lodge"

Propagation and Storage

Seed - sow in situ and only just cover the seed. Germination
should take place within 2 weeks if given a minimum germination
temperature of 23°c

Yields of around 6 tonnes per hectare have been achieved, though
yields as low as 200 kilos have been reported - yields below 2
tonnes are not considered financially viable.

There are many named varieties.

There is a multiplicity of forms of cultivated sorghum, derived
by human selection and all fully interfertile. Some forms have
sweet culms. Many species names have been proposed in the past in
an attempt to categorize this variation, but they represent no more
than intergrading cultivars within the common species pool.

Some cultivars are short-day plants and are unlikely to produce
flowers and seed away from the tropical zone.

Other uses

The flowering panicles, especially of cultivars specially bred
for the purpose, are used as brushes, brooms, whisks etc.

Several non-edible sorghum cultivars are exclusively grown for
the red pigment present in the leaf sheaths and sometimes also in
adjacent stem parts. It is used as a dye for mats, textiles, strips
of palm leaves and grasses used in basketry and weaving, ornamental
calabashes, wool, as a body paint and to colour cheese and
lickstones for cattle.

A similar dye can be extracted from the grain refuse (glumes
and grain wall) of several red sorghum cultivars grown for food or
for beer-making. The red sorghum dyes were traditionally used as a
funeral hanging, decorated with patterns made by thick threads
added to the weft of the fabric. The fabrics in which the dominant
colours were derived from sorghum were known as ‘ifala’. Sorghum is
also used to provide the violet colours decorating the masks worn
during certain dances. Sorghum and other tannin-rich dyes are used
in combination with mud to create the patterns of the painted
cloths produced in the Korhogo region.

The dye was extracted by squeezing out the juice, which was
then fermented. Used with wool or silk mordanted with tin or
chrome, the result was a colourfast red-brown. Recently the use of
sorghum dye in hair dying products has been patented.

Sorghum flour is used to produce an adhesive that is used in
the manufacture of plywood.

Stems are used for weaving fences, mats, wattle houses etc.
Sorghum plant residues are used extensively as material for
roofing, fencing, weaving and as fuel.

The plant is an excellent source of biomass. The stems can be
used for the production of fibre board. Danish scientists have made
good panelling using stem chips of sorghum."